Equilibrium of Terror: Part 2

by Eddie R. Hicks

  Old Javnis legends told stories of psionics in their society long before the Aryile race made first contact with them and uplifted their race. Psionic powers were always viewed as gifts from the gods. It was considered to be impossible for the Javnis race to have psionics before they joined the union.

  Muodiry ended up becoming heavily debated and eventually demonized by religious leaders throughout the union. Those were labelled Muodiry or claimed to have be descended from them were typically shunned and treated as lesser beings, and in the case of Dargonea, pushed her into the arms of the Celestial Order as it was the only group that accepted her for who she was.

  “That staff,” one of the crewmen said.

  Their minds were undergoing the tempering process. She recognized how it looked as their eyes opened wide in the aftermath of experiencing a vision from the gods. Most likely similar ones she saw when a visiting Patriarch paid her a visit during her younger days.

  “Kneel before me,” she said as she used her psionic powers to generate a small pocket of gravity around the gathering crewmen. They did as she instructed them to do.

  “We heard the news about Dalhakei disappearance but . . .” another crewman said.

  She grinned, “But what?”

  “We didn’t know his replacement was found so quickly.”

  “I’m not the Patriarch,” she said. “I’m the Muodiry.”

  None of them flinched or reacted violently to her words, they were ready to follow the one true path regardless if a Javnis Muodiry like herself wielded the staff or not. The staff began to get warmer the longer she used it, it was almost as if her psionic mind and the staff were one.

  “Now show me to the bridge,” she said. “I have an important message to the crew from the Pelican.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Gladius, Hyperion, and Rapier squadron evacuation convoy, En route to the asteroid belt, Sol system

  Solaris fighters from Gladius, Hyperion, and Rapier squadron accompanied Titan’s civilian evacuation transports and formed a convoy of the fleeing ships away from the Saturn sector on a nearly two-hour sub light journey toward the inner worlds of Sol, namely Earth and Mars. The infamous asteroid belt was the next hurdle in that quest as they cleared Jupiter’s orbital path.

  Jessica “Aura” Davis’ gaze shifted back toward the front of her cockpit. Her holographic HUD displayed the status of her fighter along with the rest of her squadron as she interacted with it. Fuel supplies were at fifty percent, more than enough to make the journey, though she couldn’t say the same about the Hashmedai interceptors behind them in pursuit. Their inefficient H3 fuel stores should be running dangerously low.

  As the convoy neared the thousands of asteroids that made up the belt, Aura started to wonder what lay ahead for the human race. Would a scene similar to what was outside of her cockpit window play out again, with the human race fleeing Sol aboard evacuation transports? The UNE had eight ships, and while they had shields that were stronger than those within the empire and union, the battle at Titan proved that the Hashmedai, if they focused their attacks could take down a ship inside an hour, and that was with two destroyers.

  The imperial ships at the wormhole next to Uranus must have gathered a sizable fleet by now, then there was the hulking dreadnought that appeared out of nowhere, dozens of times larger than any UNE ship and Hashmedai for that matter. How were they supposed to beat this threat? And what the hell happened to father and the Winston Churchill? Contact with it was lost shortly after the convoy left Titan, the CAG of the Wilfrid Laurier Major “Wildfire” Pedro Montes reported losing contact with it shortly afterward as well.

  She pushed the thoughts that both ships could have been destroyed out of her mind and instead focused on something more positive. This wasn’t the end. A small fleet of science and exploration ships were sent out into deep space almost seven years ago. Their mission was to explore space and find planets for the colonists aboard to settle on. Even if humanity was lost here, a piece of it would remain someplace else in the galaxy to grow and advance, and maybe come back to reclaim Sol should they fail to protect it.

  “Any of you seeing that?” Red Lotus’ voice transmitted across Aura’s headset.

  Aura returned to the reality at hand and looked down at her short range sensor scans. The Hashmedai interceptors behind them were still in pursuit although they were getting low on fuel. “Persistent wankers, aren’t they?” Aura said.

  “They have to be low on fuel by now, right?” Orbital asked.

  “Indeed, we can still outrun them nothing to worry about it,” Red Lotus said.

  “Actually there is one thing to worry about,” Wildfire said. Aura’s HUD updated with data he shared with her and the rest of the fighters. Three evacuation transports were slowly moving away from formation. The overlays in the projection revealed that those transports speeds were not consistent with the rest. “Those transports there, there older and travel slightly slower than the rest of the convoy.”

  “Aw hell,” Aura said as the projection updated, it depicted a simulation showing the Hashmedai interceptors catching up with them should they run out of fuel and drift, relying on their forward momentum to keep them moving forward.

  “What’s the call guys?” Orbital asked.

  “We’ll have to double back and deal with them, we can’t take the risk,” Aura said.

  “Agreed,” Red Lotus said. “The risk we face right now is that when they run out of fuel they’ll simply drift and move into weapons range.”

  “Thin them out; make them waste more fuel,” Wildfire said.

  “Exactly,” Aura said, then directly addressed her team. “Gladius four, five and six with me, we’re going back.”

  Wildfire issued orders to his group. “Rapier three to seven with me to assist them.”

  “Hyperion one-two, one-three and one-five with me,” Red Lotus said.

  “They rest of you stay with the convoy,” Aura said as she pulled on the stick of fighter, it performed a full one-eighty-degree turn. “Guard it with your lives!”

  Eleven Solaris fighters from the convoy broke away, their rear jets burned brightly and launched back toward their pursuing alien invaders. The gap between them closed quickly as the Solaris fighters ended their sub light burn and took up a wide V formation, Aura’s fighter took the lead. The interceptors acknowledged the challenge and slowed down to take on the Solaris fighter blockade.

  “There they are,” Red Lotus transmitted.

  Aura’s targeting scanners began to beep repeatedly, locking onto the lead interceptor. The Solaris fighters with her awaited for her call, she gave it. “Break and attack!” Aura yelled. “Weapons free, I say again, weapons free!”

  “Copy that,” Wildfire said. “Remember to cover Hyperion they have the weaker shields!”

  All Solaris fighters broke off to engage in a dance of warriors in the depths of space. Unlike previous encounters, they were no capital ships, no planets, nothing to cover behind, no backup. Just two sides exchanging weapons fire, one side heavily outnumbered, the other side heavily out gunned.

  Hyperion fighters always were under the protection of at least two fighters from either Gladius or Rapier when they dove in for the kill. Otherwise they held back and picked off interceptors that tried to fly past them toward the convoy with their powerful plasma cannons.

  Aura grinned at the how easily Red Lotus one shot interceptors that got near her fighter. One of Red Lotus’ blasts were powerful enough to destroy two interceptors in one hit as the plasma punched a hole through it and hit a second craft that was too close.

  Explosion after explosion erupted and the interceptors were losing one after another. Many of them ran out of fuel during the encounter which made it impossible for them to correctly utilize evasive rolls thus making their craft an easy kill. Aura’s rail guns growled like a beast and cut them down shattering their shields and added to the blazing explosive show like a firework display in the night. The interceptors t
hat still had fuel continued to fight on and refused to give up. Some interceptors straight up tried to ignore the battle and remain on course, hoping their momentum would carry them to the transports lagging behind. They never made it. The barricade Red Lotus and her team formed made sure of that as they acted as mobile turrets with their plasma cannons.

  Aura’s fighter rocked to the side to avoid clipping debris from the mangled interceptor as she chased one of the last remaining interceptors that still had fuel. Her targeting scanner acquired a lock, her thumb moved to press the missile fire button.

  “Gladius lead, fox three.”

  Another kill to her score card, another fiery explosion. She moved her craft away from as she smiled. Dead Hashmedai made her happy and no doubt her biological parents too, smiling down at the solar warrior their daughter had become.

  Neviana’s Interceptor, Ganymede orbit, Sol system

  Neviana’s red striped interceptor strategically remained near Ganymede’s orbit, blocking all sensor scans from the human fighters as they lay waste to the interceptors. She observed the battle closely with her ESP ignoring the raging battle cries and pleas for help from the pilots of the interceptors. Their lives meant nothing to her, as many of them weren’t loyal Celestial Order members like her and were foolishly carrying out the orders from T’esih.

  Most of the human outposts on the moon below seemed to have been evacuated recently. Good, she thought, with humans fleeing toward the inner planets, it would make the order’s job much easier to subdue them and force them into the Radiance Union. The last of the fueled interceptors was destroyed, but there were several others still adrift, however it would seem the humans have little interest in them as they no longer posed a threat.

  The eleven human fighters formed up into a formation and entered sub light on a course toward the transport convoy that left Titan. She shut her eyes to focus better, her mind touched the shields of the fighters the best she could without her thoughts being deflected back from their mind shields. The battle saw a few of the interceptors land several hits on the shields of the human fighters and therefore would be a quick kill once they came into her sights. The humans being separated from their larger gathering of fighters was an added bonus, a bonus that was slipping away with every second she was wasting not chasing them.

  Neviana took control of her interceptor and forced it to pull away from Ganymede’s gravity and accelerate away as light from Jupiter reflected off the hull of her craft. She set a course that would take her directly toward the eleven human fighters. Her psionic mind gripped onto her fighter and helped it thrust forward via telekinesis, while she reduced the power of her engines burn, thus reducing fuel consumption.

  “May the gods light shine upon me,” she said to herself as her psionic brain conjured an overshield around her interceptor.

  Gladius, Hyperion, and Rapier squadron, En route to evacuation transport convoy, Sol system

  Aura’s proximity warning alarm sounded. She shifted her gaze to her HUD as it reported a stray Hashmedai interceptor was b-lining toward them and the convoy. “Enemy contact,” Red Lotus said.

  Aura double-checked to ensure that her instruments were working correctly. They were, what she saw before her was genuine. And didn’t make sense. “How in the hell?” she muttered.

  “Must be a stray,” Orbital said.

  “They should all be out of fuel by now,” Aura said.

  “It’s coming in hot,” Red Lotus yelled. “And fast, Jesus it’s faster than us.”

  “It’s just one bloody interceptor,” Aura said. “Break and attack, take it to ‘em.”

  With the group minutes away from regrouping, they once again broke formation and swung back around, with the intent of ganging up on the stray interceptor. Aura’s targeting scanner beeped seven times as it acquired a weapons lock, it then made a double beep afterward signaling she was locked on.

  “Gladius-lead fox three,” she said and released a plasma missile toward the new challenger.

  The missile failed to deliver its explosive payload. It was swept completely off course, traveling into the blackness of space, while the lone interceptor remained on course and proceeded to lock its weapons onto one of the eleven.

  The sight, the frightening chilling sight made her heart race faster than it had been during the last encounter. She got a closer look at the interceptor as it flew closer. The red stripes, her missile being picked up and tossed aside by an invisible force. This was the psionic ace fighter from Uranus. The one responsible for Hammer’s death.

  “Oh. Fuck!” Aura yelled over the radio.

  “That was a big fuck,” Wildfire said.

  “Evasive action now!” Aura yelled as she pulled her fighter up and away from the psionic ace. The star filled back drop of space covered her windshield as she continued to rise and roll back into the action.

  “Oh man, is that who I think it is?” Orbital asked.

  “It is,” Aura said as her sights returned to the action. The psionic ace began to fire its plasma cannons rapidly at everyone. It wasn’t clear to Aura who it locked onto, just that it wasn’t her. “Everyone, there’s a powerful psionic in that fighter, don’t take it lightly!”

  The tables had turned. The Solaris fighters outnumbered their adversary, while their enemy outgunned them, by a huge margin. Carefully timed rolls and dodges were made to avoid the spray of hot bolts of plasma ejected from the psionic ace, in exchange for plasma missiles and rail gun fire. Most of which ended up in space rather than its intended target. The odd rail gun round that connected caused a purple barrier around the psionic ace to ripple and shimmer, a psionic overshield, this meant they’d have to take down its shields twice – First the overshield, generated by the psionic pilot then the actual shields generated by the interceptor itself. It was doubtful any one of them would be alive to make that happen as four fighters were destroyed over the course of two minutes of combat, at least one of them was a Gladius member.

  Aura quickly checked her HUD for signs of an escape pod. There were none, may those pilots rest in peace. “Return to the convoy,” Aura said. “We can’t take this one with what we got now—”

  “Shit, shit!” It was Orbital.

  Aura shifted the nose of her craft toward him, the psionic ace was behind him, lighting up his aft shields in a relentless plasma assault. Hammer’s last words echoed in her thoughts, and she feared Orbital’s cries for help would be his last. She propelled forward toward the action, her scanners began to acquire a lock, knowing it would probably be pointless. Nevertheless she had to try. She had to pull this wanker off Orbital. She had lost too many friends to this war as is, and this was the opening days.

  No more. As long as she was still drawing breath.

  Her fighter was in range, and her hands pressed down on the triggers to her rail guns. Red streaks of tracer fire left her fighter, half hit the overshield, and the other half was redirected away via telekinesis. She kept firing and hoped something good was going to come of it. Maybe, just maybe she’d annoy it enough to break away.

  It did break away, but not because of her.

  Red Lotus’ plasma cannons rained down upon it from above, every hit connected. The psionic ace couldn’t grip its mind around plasma as it pulled away to avoid the rest of Aura and Red Lotus’ combined assault.

  “Nice save,” Orbital transmitted.

  “Hyperion lead watch it,” Aura said to Red Lotus. One direct hit from the psionic ace and it would be over for her, much how Hyperion made short work of the interceptors earlier. Aura maneuvered her fighter to come about and caught a glimpse of the psionic ace, seconds before it entered sub light speed.

  “Change of heart?” Orbital said.

  “No, check your HUD,” Aura said as she looked at hers. The psionic ace was on a direct course heading toward the convoy.

  Making matters worse, the convoy reduced its speed as they entered the asteroid belt to avoid an untimely collision with an asteroid due to the spee
ds they were travelling at. The psionic ace with its slightly enhanced speed and the now forced reduced speed of the convoy—They were in for some trouble.

  “It will catch up with them,” Red Lotus said. “Let’s move people!”

  A pursuit course was laid in, and they bolted away in a desperate attempt to keep up. A transmission was sent to the convoy informing them of their new threat. Aura hoped that they were at least far enough into the belt that they could use the odd asteroid as cover, for she had a feeling a lot of innocent lives were going to be lost before they managed to take down their threat.

  “Don’t count on that fighter running low on fuel anytime soon,” Aura said. “Whatever psionic trickery it’s using, it’s paying off.”

  “That might be a good thing,” Wildfire said.

  “Why?”

  “Remember psionic power is limited, the more they use their powers, the greater strain on their brain.”

  “And using those powers to make their interceptor stronger . . .” Aura grinned, the Achilles heel was found. “It might be getting tired.” If we piss it off enough it might blow its own mind and lose its powers.

  With impending doom looming, the evacuation transports ventured further into the belt and placed themselves behind asteroids. The fighters defending the convoy entered an overwatch state as their aim shifted toward the estimated point the psionic was expected to drop out of sub light. Only it didn’t. The psionic ace exited its sub light burn, over shot the convoy, and entered within the belt, behind an asteroid that no one could detect right away.

  The update was passed along to Aura and the surviving seven Solaris fighters from the group of eleven. They arrived at the belt and joined up with the rest, puzzled as to what became of the psionic ace. Aura and Orbital knew however, they were down this road two months ago as they searched the belt for the Crimson Arrow as it hid next to asteroids to avoid detection.